PANAMA CITY — The world’s largest girl-run business operation is underway again, and local Girl Scouts are ready for the rush of cookie time.
“The Girl Scout Cookie Program provides girls with the opportunity to learn while earning,” stated Raslean M. Allen, chief executive officer for the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhandle Inc. “Your purchase of a box of cookies helps girls develop five financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.”
Local Girl Scouts are now taking preorders for seven of the eight cookie flavors offered this year, including traditional favorites Trefoil, Samoas, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Savannah Smiles and Do-Si-Dos, as well as a new cookie, Rah-Rah Raisin.
Girl Scouts of the USA also launched two new gluten-free cookie varieties this year due to high demand for gluten-free products. One of the two gluten-free options, the Toffee-Tastic cookie, will be available locally during booth sales, which will kick off after the cookies arrive Feb. 14.
Girl Scout Abby Leep, a seventh-grader at North Bay Haven Charter Academy, said her troop is vying to sell 500 boxes of cookies per girl to help fund a trip to historic Savannah, Ga., this year.
Abby, who has been involved with Girl Scouts since third grade, said the annual cookie sales help the girls practice business and other life skills.
“We learn how to manage money and work on math skills,” she said. “We learn how to be friends and treat people respectfully. We learn goal-setting and decision-making.”
Although Abby stays busy as a dance team member at her school, a student at Panama City Dance Academy and a member of the Panama City Swim Team, she has no intention of giving up Girl Scouts any time soon.
“Being a Girl Scout is awesome; it’s truly amazing,” she said.
Cookies are $4 a box, and $5 for the new gluten-free variety. All proceeds from cookie sales in the area will benefit the local Girl Scout chapter and are used for maintaining campsites, travel assistance, keeping event fees at a minimum and supporting special initiatives.
A United Way agency, the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhandle has nearly 5,000 members across 19 counties, along with about 2,000 volunteers.
2015 flavors
- Do-Si-Dos: Crunchy oatmeal sandwich cookies with peanut butter filling
- SavannahSmiles: Crisp, zesty lemon wedge cookies with powdered sugar
- Thin Mints: Mint-flavored cookies with chocolate coating
- Tagalongs: Peanut butter and chocolate-coated cookies
- Samoas: Caramel and toasted coconut-covered cookies
- Trefoils: Traditional shortbread cookies
- Rah-Rah Raisins: Oatmeal cookies with raisins and Greek yogurt-flavored chunks
- Gluten-free Toffee-Tastic: A crispy, buttery cookie full of toffee bits